


This Is Home

by justqueen



Category: Chronicles of Narnia (Movies), Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:15:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27295519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justqueen/pseuds/justqueen
Summary: It was like she was transported back to the past, the memories so clear and vivid: the first time she met him in Lantern Waste... the look in his face when she shot an arrow inches from his nose... how his palms felt the first time he held her waist during that dance... his worry when she saved her from the ambush... the warmth of his breath in the field the first time he told her he loved her... the vulnerability in his eyes in the battlefield... and those precious moments in the rain when they got back from the edge of Aslan's country.*A companion piece toPurely By Accidentand set between Chapter 55 and Epilogue
Relationships: Peter Pevensie/Susan Pevensie
Kudos: 4





	This Is Home

_And now after all my searching_  
_After all my questions_  
_I'm gonna call it home_

_\- This Is Home by Switchfoot_

***

_Breathe, Susan Pevensie,_ she thought as she closed her eyes. _That's right. Just breathe._

But Susan Pevensie couldn't. She hadn't been able to breathe after Peter proposed to her that night in the rain. She hadn't been able to breathe one week later when he gave her the ring, a _huge_ sapphire blue rock surrounded by sparkling diamonds. She hadn't been able to breathe when three days after that, the announcement was made and the whole of Narnia, its neighboring countries, and even the islands across the Eastern Sea knew that King Peter the Magnificent was engaged to a girl from another world. And she hadn't been able to breathe three days ago when Aslan came and proclaimed Peter High King of Narnia and and to be coronated along with Susan on their wedding day (so _that_ was why Aslan commissioned the two thrones of Narnia to be revamped two months previously.)

So was it really a mystery why now, as last-second details were settled down around her and four ladies-in-waiting hustled and bustled around her to transform her from head to toe, she still couldn't breathe? She had tried to nap through the whole ordeal but her racing heartbeat made it impossible.

_Breathe, for heaven's sake!_

"Your Majesty," Lydia said softly behind Susan. The eldest Pevensie's eyelids fluttered open, expecting four pairs of eyes looking at her but it was only Lydia. Yet when she looked around, Ayla was standing by her wardrobe, Susan's blue cape on her hand, and Alice and Willa were on Susan's right, holding up her dress.

Her wedding dress.

"Oh, Su!" a voice exclaimed by the door, out of sight from Susan who had a hard time moving her head much because of the delicate braid of her long raven locks. But she knew who it was.

Lucy Pevensie stepped in front of her, dressed in a shimmery rose gold gown with her hair in a side braid that fell right down her right shoulder. A small crown made of silver in the shape of small flowers was nestled atop her head. She looked beautiful.

"Not now, Lu," Susan muttered, face scrunched. At the sight of her wedding dress, butterflies started tap dancing in her gut. Her fingers yearned to clutch the robe she was wearing but her nails were recently painted and polished and she didn't want to go through the whole process again. "I don't feel so well."

Lucy glanced up at her elder sister's ladies-in-waiting. "Can you please give us a minute?"

The four ladies made a curtsy to Lucy and Susan. Alice and Willa delicately placed the wedding dress on Susan's bed, Ayla doing the same with the cape, before they went out the door.

Lucy turned to her elder sister. "Let's do this slowly, okay Su? Can you stand up?"

Susan nodded and heaved herself up from her chair, breathing quickly. The full length mirror was in front of her but she couldn't bring her eyes to look at the reflection.

Lucy held her hand as they approached her bed. The youngest Pevensie picked up the dress and looked at her. Susan understood then discarded her robe. Slowly, she stepped into the dress, her knees shaking. She trembled as Lucy fastened the long lines of pearl-- _real_ pearl-- buttons up her back.

"Deep breaths, Su." Lucy said behind her, sensing her trembles.

"I have been trying to do that for the past six months, Lu."

Lucy didn't answer. She couldn't begin to understand what Susan might be feeling that moment. She had always read that weddings can be nerve-wracking. But what her sister was going to do wasn't just a wedding. She wasn't only going to speak her vows to Peter. She was also making a vow to Narnia.

_Rings, then crowns._

Finally, Lucy nestled the heavy sleeveless coatlike cape around her shoulders. When she made contact with the gold satin cloth underneath, she developed goosebumps.

Susan glanced down at her dress, knowing she didn't need a mirror to see that it was beyond beautiful. She knew that the royal seamtress had gone to incredible lengths to make the dress, telling her herself that it was her masterpiece yet.

Besides, Susan knew that the minute she'd look at the mirror, she'd panic.

The silver gown was fitted through her hips, with a skirt that flitted out in waves to the floor and with sleeves that reached her wrists. Stones and pearls were sewn with delicate patterns stitched around the bodice down to the skirt. The neckline was low enough that it exposed her collarbone and the porcelain-like skin below.

Her cape was blue and _very_ heavy. Its gold clasp nestled above her collarbone. The garment was so long that she didn't even have to turn her head to know that it made a train behind her. Susan planned to ditch it at dinner after which she intend to dance with her husband until she couldn't stand anymore.

A whistle sounded by the door.

It was Edmund Pevensie.

The dashing dark-haired Pevensie was dressed in a satin forest green tunic with delicate embroidery and gray trousers. A brown leathered belt wounded around his waist. On his head was a silver crown.

Three days ago, after he was proclaimed High King by Aslan, Peter had made Edmund the Duke of Lone Islands and Lucy the Duchess of the Seven Isles. Thus, their silver crowns. But only the council knew; later, during the coronation, Peter would make the official announcement.

Edmund approached Susan slowly, his dark eyes roving from her head to toe. "You clean up quite nicely." He grinned.

Susan managed a smile. "Is that Edmund-speak for 'you look pretty'?"

Edmund took both of her hands in his. He placed a kiss on both of her knuckles. "You look beautiful, sister. Mum and Dad would be proud."

Despite the sensation of dinosaurs trampling around inside her stomach, Susan's throat thickened at her brother's words. Susan knew she shouldn't cry because her four ladies-in-waiting had spent hours and hours on her face, but she couldn't help a tear falling from her eye. Oh, how she wished her parents were there to see her.

 _But I can feel them,_ she thought, momentarily closing her eyes. _I can feel them whispering to me how much they love me, love us._ _And how proud they are of us._

"Oi," Lucy reacted, grabbing a nearby square of cloth to gently wipe Susan's escaped tear. She was as tall as her sister now so she had no difficulty doing so. "Do you want to have a smudged face on your coronation?"

"I'm pretty sure she'd cry during the wedding, Lu." Edmund said.

Immediately, Susan panicked.

"Aslan's Mane!" she sucked in a breath. Did it suddenly feel like her room was hot as a furnace? Why was her cape choking her? And why did her dress suddenly feel so tight? She wasn't even wearing a corset, for Aslan's sake! "What was I thinking? I can't do this! I can't! This is a bad idea. I'm not cut out for this--"

"Su, hey," Edmund held Susan on both of her shoulders. "Look at me."

Susan felt like she couldn't breathe but she looked straight into her brother's eyes. She felt Lucy's hand clutch her arm.

"You're gonna be fine." Edmund said slowly, enunciating each word and lightly squeezing Susan's shoulders.

The eldest Pevensie took a deep breath. Her erratic heartbeat slowed then reverted to normal. She gripped Lucy and Edmund's hand with each of her own.

Susan knew this moment would come. The morning after Peter's proposal, she knew nothing would ever be the same again. But it was in that moment, dressed in a heavy wedding gown and holding her brother and sister's hands, that it sunk in to every recesses of her brain that, indeed, _nothing will never be the same again._

"Everything is going to change now, isn't it?" she stated softly.

Lucy and Edmund didn't respond. Because they knew Susan was right. After the coronation and after they'd be officially proclaimed as Duke and Duchess, they are no longer merely just _children_. The bits and pieces of the memories they had retained of the world they had come from would forever be that-- _memories_. No longer would they wonder if they'd ever return, because once their sister starts her reign as Queen and the both of them starts their duties to their respective provinces and to Narnia, they are forever leaving that world behind.

"Indeed," Lucy answered after a few heartbeats. Her lips quirked into a smile. "You'll now be running a kingdom, _Your Majesty_."

Susan shut her eyes close, slightly grimacing. "I suppose I'll have to get used to that name now."

"You better," Edmund said, grinning. "But don't expect me to call you that. You'll always be the wet blanket."

The three Pevensies laughed.

*****

Suddenly, trumpets started singing around Cair Paravel. Down below, inside the Great Hall, spectators turned their heads as honored guests walked toward their seats at the front. Outside, the enormous courtyard was packed with people, up to the curved edge overlooking the sea. On a raised dais at the right side of the Great Hall, the fauns sounded their lutes and music accompanied the honored guests as they made their way from the entrance hall to the Great Hall.

Inside the bride's bedchambers, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy looked at each other. Then Edmund offered his hand to Susan. "Ready, Su?"

One would think Susan would be more nervous now, now that the ceremony was officially starting. But she thought of Peter. She thought of how he'd be waiting for her at the end of the aisle once the doors to the Great Hall opened for her. She thought of how she'd be taking this next significant chapter of her life with him. She thought of her siblings. She thought of how she knew they'd always be there for her no matter what. No matter if she was still plain old Susan Pevensie or Queen Susan of Narnia.

She glanced at her reflection in the mirror. Her ring seemed more blue than ever, matching her cape. It was the only piece of jewelry she was wearing.

The eldest Pevensie nodded without hesitation. "Ready."

*****

When the music changed and the doors to the Great Hall opened, and as the guests and spectators surged up from their seats to greet the three Pevensies, Edmund squeezed Susan's hand on his arm.

"Don't worry," he said to her. "Lucy and I won't let you fall."

On the other side of Susan, Lucy nodded, giving Susan an encouraging smile.

"I know." Susan replied.

*****

Uncountable pairs of eyes followed their parade down the aisle. But as Susan looked ahead, at Aslan settled between Narnia's two thrones of power... and found _him_ there, she felt like no one else was there at all.

Susan immediately felt silly for being nervous.

His head was bare, his gold crown missing. Of course, that crown was unimportant now since he'd be wearing the crown of the High King a few minutes from then. He was on a rich dark blue tunic with gold embroideries in the front over a long-sleeved silver shirt. Around his neck and trailing behind him, was a gold cape, as heavy-looking as hers. Knee-length black boots was worn over pale yellow trousers.

All Susan could see during the rest of the walk was Peter's face. The music and the awed whispers were like white noise machine. It was when both of her siblings clung to her and kissed her on the cheeks and Edmund surrendered her hand to Peter that her brain functioned again.

"Hey, you." he whispered to her, giving her his signature mischievous dimpled smile which could always make her knees shake.

"Hey, you." she smiled back, hoping she didn't sound as breathless as she felt.

And then Aslan, golden-maned and bright as the setting sun shining behind him through the glass roof, was speaking to them. The ceremony was different from those in Susan's home world, and yet... somehow quite similar. Maybe because she felt like everything around her was clear and finally in its proper position, as she and Peter delivered their vows to Narnia and to each other. Maybe because the feeling of home ever since she stepped foot in Narnia was now fully realized, with Aslan in front of her placing the heavy gold crown adorned with sapphires, rubies, and emeralds atop her head as she knelt. Maybe because she had finally found someone to annoy for the rest of her life, someone who was going to be her partner for anything and everything, with Peter beside her, a crown intricately designed and heavy-looking as hers shining atop his head.

Peter and Susan rose to their feet. Step after step, holding hands, they ascended the dais towards the two high backed chairs with magnificent gold filigree. And when the High King and Queen took their seats on the throne, the crowd in the Great Hall and in the courtyard outside surged up to their feet and erupted to loud cheers.

*****

And then Susan had her head resting against Peter's chest as they swayed with the fauns' music beneath the Great Hall's enormous chandelier. Déjà vu washed over the couple as they both remembered the first time they danced like this. Of course, back then, she wasn't resting comfortably against him like that and both of them weren't wearing crowns. If they hadn't discarded both of their capes before they took the dance floor, they doubted if they could move at all. Both had half the mind to take off their crowns too because even Peter said his previous crown weighed nothing compared to this one. But they knew they shouldn't.

Susan pulled back. She stared up to Peter's eyes, the first time since Aslan proclaimed them husband and wife. Completely ignoring everyone else around them (though Edmund subtly smirking at them by their table was hard to ignore as well as Lucy and Corin dancing nearby; was it just Susan or those two had grown closer together lately?) she tried to drown herself in his dazzling sky blue orbs.

It was like she was transported back to the past, the memories so clear and vivid: the first time she met him in Lantern Waste... the look in his face when she shot an arrow inches from his nose... how his palms felt the first time he held her waist during that dance... his worry when she saved her from the ambush... the warmth of his breath in the field the first time he told her he loved her... the vulnerability in his eyes in the battlefield... and those precious moments in the rain when they got back from the edge of Aslan's country.

"What are you thinking?" Peter asked, his eyebrows scrunched slightly.

"I'm thinking..." her voice was low, barely above a whisper. "...that you're mine now."

"I have always been yours," he replied, matching her tone. He lowered his forehead against hers, their crowns making a soft clinking sound as they touched. "And you're mine, _wife_."

Susan couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Just another name that I have to get used to now."

Peter's lips quirked into a smile. "Don't worry. I'll help you."

And when he kissed her, Susan knew. There were no maybes anymore.

She was _definitely_ home.


End file.
